


Where My Demons Hide

by x_thisismybeautifulshow_x



Category: Alice in Chains
Genre: Canon Timeline, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Deathfic, Demons, Drug Use, Heaven, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 04:17:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19310455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x_thisismybeautifulshow_x/pseuds/x_thisismybeautifulshow_x
Summary: Layne/Mike Starr and their relationship. Separated by death, reunited in the afterlife





	Where My Demons Hide

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to make this like bookends. And you all know how much i love to make my readers feel things.

Of course nothing worth fighting for was ever easy. Mike Starr wasn’t a quitter. From the moment he had laid eyes on Layne, the chase was on. Layne, with his deep ice blue eyes and thick matted mane of hair. Layne, the boy that would go on to change his entire world and eventually be the cause of his world ending.

Mike can’t remember when Layne finally reciprocated his feelings. After years of dancing around each other, it just finally happened. And it was good. So good. They fell into bed with each other and with every touch, they learned more about the other. Deepest fears, dreams, hopes, and agonies. Layne shared his insecurity with Mike, and Mike gave Layne confidence to be who he was. When the addiction started, Mike was the one who held Layne, who knew the reasons why. Mike was the one who nursed him through withdrawal and helped him get well. Mike not only shared Layne's body. He shared his soul. It was just them. Mike and Layne, Layne and Mike. They fit together. Not even heroin could separate them.

It was a dark night in April. The year was 2002. Mike was living with Layne in a crappy little postage stamp of an apartment in Seattle. Alice in Chains had been out of the spotlight for years and Layne's addiction had spiraled to the point of where it wasn’t a question of whether he would get better. It was a question of when. When his body would finally give up. Too much hard living, abusing what was once a healthy shell. Everything Layne had wanted had ended long ago. Including Mike. They were strangers sharing a bed. Layne slept 20 out of 24 hours in a day and spent the other four getting loaded. Whatever he could put in his body to make it so he didn’t have to hear the demons scream at him. He once told Mike that the only thing keeping them at bay was the heroin.

It was another night, another fight. This time Mike tried to reason with the man he loved above others. “Please, go get help. You’re so sick.”  
“No, I can’t. The demons will come back. They will get me, Mike! They’re calling my name. Don’t you hear them? They’re screaming Layne! Layne!” Layne sobbed as he picked up his pipe to take another hit.  
“If you don’t go, I’m leaving. I can’t watch you die!”  
Mike turns to go. Layne takes one last look at him.  
“Don’t let it end like this,” he cried.

When they found Layne's body, Mike didn’t take the news well. He had never really been much of a drug user, but he decided to pick up the needle again. It filled the void and numbed the pain of losing someone he loved so much. Just once, he thinks. Once and done. But the needle had other ideas. It always has the last word.

So here he is, another night. Nine years later, in April. The year is 2011. The demons have come for Mike and the only way to squash them down is to shoot another into his veins. No arrests, no rehab have done any good to keep Mike on the straight and narrow. Nothing would again. The same demons that took his Layne away were chasing him. If they couldn’t have that soft delicate boy, they would take the one closest to him. Alice in Chains was back together. New singer. He was good. But he wasn’t Layne. The guys didn’t talk to him much. Not since Inez had taken his place. The truth was, Mike had no one. 

He lay down on the couch that, nine years earlier, had rested his love.

Voices. A bright light. Where am I? Holy shit. I’m not…  
But yet Mike stares out, hardly believing. In front of him is Layne. “Took you long enough, babe.”  
Mike leans forward to kiss his lover. “I am so sorry. I owe you a huge apology.”  
“Come on, let’s go home. The demons can’t get us anymore.”


End file.
